8 x 4 = 32.

On January 13th I reached the 32 week mark.  I never know exactly if this gives me the right to call myself 8 months pregnant?  Or do I have to wait until February 10th to claim that title?  Based on how much this little one has been using my rib as a punching bag lately, I'm going to say that it does.

To be absolutely honest, I've not accomplished as much as I'd hoped this month between the chaos of the holidays and then turning around and walking into the brick wall that is year end at work.  January 2nd is the universal day that anyone with an accounting degree wonders if they were under the influence when they selected their major.  (If you went into public accounting afterwards, the answer is likely yes).

We did manage to make it to a breastfeeding class.  Said class was on the same day as the National Title game.  I'm sure you can imagine how excited Ryan was about this.  To his credit, he went to the class, sat through it and did some learning like a champ.  I guess looking at boobs isn't the worst alternative to watching football.  I am proud of him for doing so with very little complaining... snaps to Papa Bear.

Other than that, this month has been about a lot of researching and planning.  Oh, and playing with all those awesome Christmas presents you saw in previous posts.  Ryan put together our stroller, which is ah-mazing.  I am kind of wondering if anyone is considering making an adult version, because I think Ryan pushing me around in one sounds like a pretty cool way to travel.  One note of interest on that point is that Lola is terrified of it.  You read that correctly.  Our 100 pound dog is scared to death of a stroller.  I really should have somehow captured that on film.  Just imagine Ryan chasing Lola around the island in our kitchen and try not to laugh.  Is this what the term "family fun" means?

My generous, and super talented, mother has agreed to make the bedding, curtains, etc.  She came over and we spent a few hours taking measurements and ordering fabric.  I really, really can't wait to see how this all comes together.  We are SO lucky that she's doing this for us.  It warms my heart to know that our little one will be sleeping surrounded by love.

I spent an afternoon organizing all of lady bug's clothes, accessories, etc into neat piles on the floor in her room.  I then proceeded to have a full-on panic attack because we are currently sans dresser (aka a receptacle for these piles).  So naturally next I laid in the middle of the room on my back for a while eating some M&M's.  Because that is how adults deal with things properly, obviously.  Per review of my iPhone photos, I also devoted some time to practicing using the car seat in a very realistic manner.  See below.

I buckled that beanie baby bear in like a pro.  Beanie babies are similar to human ones, right?

Sweet pea seems to have discovered her very own Christmas present in the past month- in the form of a multi purpose pillow/trampoline that was previously known as my bladder.  While I'm glad she is so comfortable in there, I wouldn't be that upset if she forgot about that.  I can definitely tell that she's running out of room in there as I feel her almost constantly through out the day.  Normally she chooses opportune times like when I'm in a meeting with primarily men-folk to really start making my entire belly morph.  I think she inherited her sense of timing from her Aunt Julie.

Our doctors appointments this month went well.  Miss Martin's heart rate was 144 again.  That seems to be a common theme.  My doctor claims she continues to be measuring "right on track."  That's not what my precise sizing up of my belly says, but I'm not the one with the degree.  So I suppose I'll take her word for it.

Last but not least, time for some watch the growing belly pics.  

29 weeks from Mamacita & Daddio's house.

30 weeks.  Goodness, I'm living large.

31 weeks.  Would you like to rent my belly shelf for storage?  Please contact me.  Very reasonable rates.

32 weeks.

I can't believe that the next time I write one of these I'll (probably) be within a month of bringing home a little mini Rymy.  I absolutely can't wait.  Thank you all, as always, for your continued love, well wishes and support.  There's no way I could make this journey without you.

Had to give our first baby a little blog love.  :c)  Think there's room in this lap for two?

2013: 3..2.. Wait, how did we miss the 1?!

This year, like all the others I can recall in recent history (and even some I probably don't recall), Ryan and I rung in the New Year in Conroe with a few of our favorite people.  This year we switched locales and took our beer pong-ing and light up champagne-fluting ways to Brendan's parent's lake home.  Despite the fact that their house is on the market (anyone interested in buying a lake house?!), they allowed us to use it.  Perhaps they figured since I was pregnant that I would serve as a voice of reason or perhaps they're just overwhelmingly generous?  Either way- color us appreciative!

Shaustin, Jendan, Ryan & I spent the evening in the same way we spend the bulk of our gatherings- playing such mind-expanding games as "would you rather," making ridiculous predictions for the coming year, holding deep discussions about the merits of various celebrities and playing beer pong.  I'm sure everyone will be proud to know that I was the beer pong MVP.  Some naysayers might attribute this to the fact that I had to select a different pinch drinker each game, thereby increasing every one else's beverage intake 10-fold... however, yours truly prefers to think that I'm just a stud.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Just before midnight we filed into the house, lit up the finest champagne flutes that Shawna's local CVS has to offer and waited excitedly for the clock to strike midnight on the New Years Eve celebration in downtown Houston that was being televised.  Thanks to some shoddy camera cut aways, we completely missed the actual stroke of midnight.  For anyone keeping track, that does indeed mean 2 years in a row that I have missed the turnover from year to year.  I guess I should get used to that, huh? We tried to redeem ourselves by catching a version of the ball drop on the Spanish station (don't ask why this made so much sense to us) and failed yet again.  Obviously I'll just have to trust you all that it did actually happen.

They say that the way you ring in the New Year is a preview of how you'll spend the remainder of it.  If that's the case, I'll be surrounded by people I love, fielding awkwardly worded compliments from Austin and laughing at everyone around me.  I'll take it.  :c)  Whether this is true or not, I have a feeling (read: active kicking in my belly) that 2013 is going to be a preettttttty good year for the Martins.  I hope you all are looking forward to this year as much as I am!

Shawna's second best purchase of the year.   Behind the rambo beer belt, of course. 

Maybe her third best purchase?  It sure seemed that way at 1 am.

 If a knife and Ryan's facial expression don't signify serious queso-making then clearly I've never witnessed it.

The responsible parties.

Inevitably if their boy band ever makes it, this will be their first cover.

Ace & Gary live to see another year.  And another beer pong match.

This is either Ryan recounting a shark attack or some type of defensive maneuver.  I'll let you decide. 

Austin was definitely the defensive MVP of the game.  Please note how much distance he required his partner to keep.

Cheers to 2013.

Cover for their second album?

Can you believe we put up with them?

GUYS!  Your glasses are not lit.

Austin's 2013 aspirations include either officially obtaining his AARP membership or becoming a pimp.

Luckily Shawna is handling it well.

I think this is directly after we realized we missed midnight.  So probably like 12:02.

Does this mean we have to keep them another year?

Haaaaaappy New Year from Coolio & the gang.

Photographic evidence that the pregnant lady made it later than this guy.

Last but certainly not least, this precious little doll made her grand debut on December 31, 2012.  Welcome to my sweet new cousin, Miss Lucy Taylor.  Congrats to Ashleigh & Kyle!  Love you all.  (Author's Note: Any resemblance between this sleeping child & Austin are sheerly coincidental.)

A Christmas Story: 2012 Edition (Martin Style)

On Christmas afternoon I packed up our goods and my whisker face and high tailed it south to Spring Branch to meet Ryan at his parents' house.  Christmas part 2 was every bit as family- and fun- filled as Christmas part 1.

At Ryan's parents house we were joined by Tiffy, Kylie, Tiff's boyfriend Jerome, and of course Ryan's parents, Melanie & Mike.  As soon as we walked in the house we were greeted with the tantalizing smell of a spiral sliced ham.  I had just stuffed my face with a steak at my parents house 3 hours earlier, but that did not in the least slow down my consumption of said ham and trimmings.  I would like to blame that on the baby in my belly but sadly I think the outcome would have been the same either way.

After our delicious dinner, Aunt Pam, Uncle Bob & cousin Jenny dropped by to join in the Christmas cheer.  We all exchanged presents and once again, everyone got spoiled beyond belief.  Ryan & I scored a fire pit amongst a plethora of other assorted goodies including the most comfortable pajama pants on the face of the earth, golf shirts for Ryan, some beautiful Christmas decor, etc, etc.  Once again, Baby Girl made a killing and raked in some awesome bath time accessories, clothing and a beautiful Christmas book.

Sadly because Ryan had work the next day and was still fighting off whatever illness hit him on Sunday evening, we couldn't stay tooooo late after the present exchange.  Overall, it was another wonderful holiday with family we wouldn't trade for the world.  Thank you Martins for your love and hospitality!

The tree before shot.  Lucky, lucky Martin-folk!

Ryan taking his turn playing with the new camera's bells & whistles.

Yup, zoom feature works.

Tiff tearing into her stocking.

I love Mike's facial expression here.  I am not sure who was more excited about whatever he's holding - him or Kylie.

Granny laughing at Kylie.

Beautiful lamp for Tiff's house.  Clearly Jerome is equally jazzed about this gift.

Kylie opening what was most likely her gift, although no one's were really safe.

Making sure that Granny approves of her new loot.

Uncle Bob & Kylie checking out her new kid's iPad thing. 

Mike opening their present from Tiffany, Ryan & I.

Last but not least - what Baby Girl racked up for her first Christmas.  I hope she never forgets just how blessed and loved she is!

A Christmas Story: 2012 Edition (Boarman Style)

As you are most likely aware, or will be when your December bank statement arrives, Christmas happened recently.  I still don't really know how it's possible that it's already come and gone, but the amount of new belongings I need to find spaces for evidences that it indeed has.  This year Ryan unfortunately had to work the day shift on both Christmas Eve (Monday) and Christmas day (Tuesday), so our family-visiting schedule required a little creative finagling.

We decided the easiest way to spend time with both sides of the family was to head up to Conroe to do Christmas early with my family the weekend before and to head over to Ryan's parents' house after he got off of work on Christmas day.  While I missed getting to do traditional Christmas all in one day and having Ryan around for it, this plan of attack worked out pretty stellarly.

So, stop 1: Boarman fam Christmas in Conroe.  This year since we were all short on vacation and had been up to South Bend a few times earlier in 2012, we elected to just spend the holiday at home.  Ryan, Lola and I arrived with bells on ready to celebrate on Friday evening.  We were the first to arrive, so we had the luxury of getting my parents all to ourselves for the night.  The 4 of us had dinner at Rico's, a local Mexican restaurant and just hung out and caught up.

Saturday we spent the morning laying around in our pajamas waiting for Matty & Jules to make their way north.  Like a kid on (the Saturday before) Christmas, my Dad couldn't wait to present my Mom with one of her Christmas gifts- a meat grinder.  Now, I recognize that to most people this doesn't sound like a very romantic and/or exciting gift.  So let me break it down for you.  For as long as I can remember, whenever we visit my Mom's side of the family in South Bend, we have a special dinner of ham loaf one evening.  My Mom has tried many times unsuccessfully to find butchers here in town who can make ham loaf to no avail.  So my Dad took matters into his own hands and bought a meat grinder.  Given his disinterest in relying on others in general, I'm a little bit surprised it took him this long to formulate this brilliant plan.  The gift was met with such excitement that we immediately rushed out to the meat market my parents go to in Conroe to get the ingredients for some homemade ham loaf.

And you thought only Southerners got this pumped about meat.  Apparently farm-raised Hoosiers can give you a good run for your money.  We left the meat market with enough meat that many would have questioned whether we were trying to open our own branch of Fogo de Chao.  As soon as we got home, we met up with Julie and got to work on Operation: Ham Loaf.

Papa Bear getting after it.

Lola is thinking that this meat grinder might be the best gift anyone she knows has ever gotten.

Julie demonstrating how many hours of the Food Network she has watched while Caddy looks on in what is obviously unadulterated amazement.

You may have noticed that the meat we are grinding here appears cooked.  If so, congratulations- you were about 1.5 hours ahead of us.  Apparently we are a family of blondes.  After realizing that we needed uncooked meat and had just made a very large batch of catfish food (you're welcome Lake Conroe fishermen), my Dad immediately got on the phone to track down some UN-cooked pig.  Brookshire Brothers came to our rescue.  Ryan and my Dad did the grinding of the actual meat used in the ham loaf we made for Christmas.  However, at this point ol' Preggers McGee decided that laying on the couch sounded like more fun than taking more pictures of meat.  So you'll have to use your imagination.

Saturday evening my Dad again busted out the fire pit that Ryan & I gave them for Christmas last year and we enjoyed another fire outside.  Nothing says Boarman holiday like some fire, a nice glass of wine, Gallery Furniture jackets and watching the puppies run around and try to eat bamboo bark.  Absolutely perfect "Christmas Eve" in my book!

Pregnant people wine.

Let there be fire.

Tell me these aren't the most well-dressed people you've ever seen.

Rocking those Gallery Furniture jackets.  Also, Lolers is attention-starved.

Sunday morning we woke up and had a giant wrapping party which required yelling from room to room things like "do you have the scissors," and "hey *insert name here*, don't come in here for at least 10 minutes."  Is this how everyone's Christmases work?  Mid-afternoon we had the official present exchanges where we were all beyond spoiled.  Ryan & I's little princess made a killing for not even being here yet!  She scored a new stroller, a car seat and other assorted fabulous clothing items and accessories.  Please note that I was way too excited with the loot to take pictures.  Sooooorry.

Ryan ripping into the finest specimen of Jimmy James wrapping.  Car seats take a special kind of finesse to wrap.

I believe this is Dad demonstrating the dance moves he plans to bust out for his fellow passengers on his next flight.  We gave him some noise canceling headphones for all the long flights he's been taking lately.

Physical evidence that Julie is the world's nicest sister-in-law.

O' Christmas Tree.

My Dad decided that since we are about to have a snuggly new addition to the family, we needed a camera upgrade to capture all of her adorableness in the highest quality.  I'm still working on figuring out all the bells and whistles on this bad boy.  However, I'm super pumped about it potentially making my poor photography skills look less lackluster.  Here are a few of my first efforts.  Feel free to sign up to give me some lessons my less camera-challenged friends!

Why yes, that wreath is made of wine corks.  Pintrest eat your heart out.

Abby dreaming of more ham.

I think I was playing with the "close up" setting.

Post present exchange, we all sat down to Christmas dinner.  I have to say that Dad's meat grinder was a brilliant gift because that ham loaf was perfection.  Mom went all out on all the trimmings as well.  Food is certainly the way to anyone in the Boarman family's heart and Mom had all of our's that evening.  Right after dinner, Ryan had to head back home to get ready for work the next morning.  We were so appreciative that my family moved their Christmas festivities around to accommodate Ryan's schedule.  It's a true testament to the fact that they really are the most generous, good-hearted family in the world bar none.

I hung out with the family through Christmas afternoon when I headed into town to meet Ryan at his parents house for Christmas part 2.  The remainder of the time I spent in Conroe was filled with delicious food, silly TV and great conversation.  As our family grows and expands, it's rare that the 5 of us get to spend much time together and it was a treasure to get to do so for a little bit.  Oh, and me trying to play photographer.  :c)

I think Lola's stink eye here says it all.  She was way over me taking her picture at this point.  Not that this stopped me, as you'll see.

Oh, so you're annoyed by me taking your picture inside?  Fine.  We'll go outside.

I believe this is a double cold shoulder.

Alright dogs- you win.  I'll start taking pictures of nature.

Some slightly more native flora and fauna.

I think I was playing with the "silhouette" function here.

Sitting on the dock of the bay.  That will conclude this snippet of Amy's foray into learning to use a camera.

In conclusion, Christmas 2012 with the Boarman family was absolutely amazing.  I wouldn't change a single thing.  Thank you so much to my parents for all you do for us and making every event at casa Boarman so memorable.  We love you so much.  I can't wait for Christmas 2013 - this time with a little one.  :c)